Mubarak ordered back to jail as health improves

Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered deposed president Hosni Mubarak to be transferred to prison from a military hospital following an apparent improvement in his health.

Mubarak looked relaxed on Saturday at his first public appearance for 10 months, smiling and waving during his aborted retrial.

The appearance angered many Egyptians and prompted calls for him to be put back in jail.

Now the prosecutor general's office says it has decided Mubarak will be returned to Torah prison on the outskirts of Cairo. It did not say when he would be moved.

The former president's retrial was meant to begin last week, but it collapsed when the presiding judge withdrew from the case and referred it to another court.

Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah had been widely criticised for acquitting security men accused of attacking protesters in an incident in which crowds were charged by men riding camels.

A Cairo appeals court today announced the new retrial will open on May 11.

This time, the presiding judge will be Mahmoud Kamel El-Rashidi, a low-profile jurist.

Mubarak is charged alongside his former interior minister and six former security chiefs with complicity in the murder of hundreds of anti-government protesters in January 2011.

The 84-year-old, who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years before being toppled by the 18-day popular uprising, was convicted last June and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The country's highest appeals court ordered a retrial in January after accepting appeals from both the defence and prosecution.

The same court will retry Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal on separate charges of financial corruption at the same time, state news agency MENA reported.

Six other top Mubarak aides will also be retried with the former ruler, MENA said.

On Monday, a judge ordered Mubarak's release on bail on the charges of complicity in the killing of protesters but he has remained in custody in a military hospital on separate charges of alleged corruption.